This was the Secret, and it was mine! A word from me; and house, lands, baronetcy, were gone from him forever - a word from me, and he was driven out into the world a nameless, penniless, friendless outcast! The man's whole future hung on my lips - and he knew it, by this time, as certainly as I did!
That last thought steadied me. Interests far more precious than my own depended on the caution which must now guide my slightest actions. There was no possible treachery which Sir Percival might not attempt against me. In the danger and desperation of his position, he would be staggered by no risks, he would recoil at no crime - he would, literally, hesitate at nothing to save himself.
(from The Woman In White, by William Wilkie Collins)
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